Weapons of the Galaxy
Warning: Much information in this article is drawn from the 3400 edition of Jayne's Frightening Ships of the Galaxy. ''Any resemblance to the facts, real or imagined, is purely coincidental. No starships were harmed in the creation of this article. Beam Weapons of the Galaxy Mass Drivers Mass drivers are defined as 'gun-type' weapons that deliver most of a projectile's kinetic energy in a single burst at the launcher, with any maneuvers performed by the projectile being secondary for guidance purposes. Mass drivers are classed as beam weapons because most of the work of targeting must be done by the firing ship, and thus they resemble light speed weapons in their effects and uses. Weapons that fire a self-accelerating projectile at relatively low initial speeds should be classified as "missiles." Examples Light-Speed ("Energy") Weapons Umerian Particle Beam Weapons This section a work in progress. Exotic Physics Weapons This category includes any weapons which rely on forces or techniques not part of the standard four-force model of physics that prevailed up until the discovery of the Heim Drive. Autolaser The primary weapons system of Solarian capital ships, autolasers are quick-recharging, heavy-hitting exotic particle beam weapons. Each autolaser battery is powered and fueled by a small dark energy reactor which converts the ambient dark energy that naturally permeates all of space into a high-energy plasma. Autolasers fire huge, glowing energy beams of this exotic matter, which has various strange properties such as pseudo-negative mass, limited anisotropy and extreme energy density. Though extremely power-hungry and prone to producing such vast quantities of waste heat that each autolaser tower requires complex cryosystems just to prevent the weapon from melting autolasers are exceedingly powerful weapons, capable of incinerating swarms of fighters, blasting planetary targets or vaporizing vast chunks of enemy capital ships with huge, glowing energy beams. Beam Cannon When the genetically-engineered Chamarrans descended upon the Makayan Republic in their Juggernauts in 3042, the guns that scourged a thousand ships from the skies were their Beam Cannons. In the aftermath of the war, the Chamarrans themselves endeavored to learn the secrets of the weapons their creators had equipped them with, and the Sultanate of Klavostan also decided to pursue this technology as the future of space warfare. Hard-hitting, relatively energy-efficient (though certainly energy-hungry), retaining remarkable coherence over long range, and possessing amazing ability for off-axis fire, the differing levels of technology between the two nations resulted in differing tactical deployment. Chamarran vessels employ very large beam cannons singly or in small numbers, while Klavostani ships bristle with varying smaller calibres of beam cannon, from their multiple long-range forward guns to broadsides, and even smaller-calibre point defense weapons. Cadence Lance Cadence lance technology was first developed in the late 3200s as an energy-efficient way of exploiting the resonant frequency of defensive shields. Before this time, resonance attacks were only possible using inefficient tunable weapons such as the free electron laser, which limited their effectiveness. Cadence lances make such attacks far easier, allowing the firing ship to quickly find and overwhelm the target's defense, overloading and burning out the shield generators. Even if the target survives the aftereffects of burnout and is not crushed by the implosion of its wall shield, it becomes a very easy target for conventional weapons. Circa 3300, cadence lances were extremely effective antiship weapons. A well designed ship's shield generators could survive being taken under fire by own-caliber lance fire for a short time, but if the cadence beam could be sustained, burnout was inevitable. This led to the installation of cadence lances as main armament in a wide variety of ship classes, ranging from frigate to battleship tonnage; the generators for the lance were too bulky to be used in ships below frigate weight. The ensuing naval design panic was brought to a quick halt by a relatively simple advance in defensive technology: the polycyclic shield. Polycyclics operate at extremely high linewidth, meaning that they have no resonant frequency to attack, which makes them almost completely immune to cadence beam attacks. The early generation of polycyclic screens were bulky and compromised on protection against conventional weapons, but the technology has since been miniaturized until polycyclics are almost as efficient as their single-frequency rivals. Cadence lances are now largely ineffective against capital ships, since even old ships that predate the invention of cadence-beam technology have long since been retrofitted with polycyclic shielding, at least in a light supplementary layer designed specifically to repel resonance attacks. In turn, the lances themselves have mostly disappeared, removed from old ships and replaced with simpler, less easily thwarted weapons. However, some cadence lance equipped ships can still be found in the navies of minor powers, as hand-me-downs from the era when they are popular. Missiles of the Galaxy Endocet The Endocet is an anti-ship missile manufactured by the Fourth French Empire that can be launched by warships, small craft, aerospace fighters, planetary installations and ground vehicles, it is one of the more ubiquitous space weapons in the galaxy and has been used in numerous conflicts ever since its first deployment in the year 3369. The Endocet is designed to attack small- to medium-sized warships (e.g. frigates, corvettes, and destroyers), though multiple hits are also effective against larger vessels. Its compact design gives it a relatively low sensor cross-section (SCS), reducing its visibility and thus its detectability. To make it more difficult to track, it also uses passive sensors until making its final approach to the target, when it switches to its active arrays. It has a low-emission ion thruster that makes it slower than other space missiles, but also harder to detect as well. The planetary-launched version places the missile and an orbital booster inside a launch capsule. The Endocet became noted galaxy-wide during the Balklands War in the 3370s, when the Kingdom of New Anglia and the Argenti Federation fought over the Sammich Planets. In the conflict, a number of New Anglian warships were damaged by Endocet missiles fired by Argentian fighters and improvised planetary launchers, prompting an irate then-Prime Minister of New Anglia to force the Endocet's codes and homing sensors out of the perfidious French. Halberd/Naginata/Morningstar ''Hornisse attack fighter]] One of many weapons systems jointly developed by the Shinra Republic and Holy Empire of Haruhi Suzumiya, the Halberd/Naginata (the respective designations used by the Shinra Republic Navy and SOS Imperial Navy) is the primary competitor of the French Endocet on the galactic arms market. Its development and deployment predates that of the Endocet, with the first examples entering service with the Shinra Republic Navy and SOS Imperial Navy in 3367. Like the Endocet, the Halberd/Naginata can be launched by multiple platforms, such as warships, small craft, aerospace fighters, fixed planetary installations, and ground vehicles. Other comparable weapons include the New Anglian Star Eagle anti-matter torpedo, the Tianguoese DD-320 Ying Xing kinetic-kill missile, and the Umerian Mk IV "Cantaloupe" anti-ship torpedo. The Halberd/Naginata, like the Endocet, is primarily designed to engage small- to medium-sized warships (e.g. frigates, corvettes, and destroyers), though multiple hits are also effective against larger vessels. To improve survivability against point defense systems, it uses passive sensors for much of its flight, only activating active sensors during its final approach. The planetary-launch variant is fitted with an orbital booster and launch capsule. The Halberd/Naginata has been further developed into the Morningstar heavy ground-attack missile, with a larger warhead and fully autonomous target acquisition capability; like the Shepistani SMARM, the Morningstar can loiter in a target area and search for targets of opportunity if its original target is lost. The Morningstar can also be used for anti-ship attack, where its enhanced warhead allows it to inflict considerable damage against large vessels; however, its larger sensor cross-section compared to the original Halberd/Naginata and its high-emission ion thruster makes it somewhat more vulnerable to tracking and point defenses. Smart Malingering Anti Radiation Missile (SMARM) The Smart Malingering Anti Radiation Missile (SMARM) is an advanced munition used by the Shepistani Republic. As its name implies, it has a loitering capability allowing it to stay over a suspect target area looking for new targets of opportunity if the original target is lost. It is capable of homing against almost any type of radiation source, up to reflected ultraviolet emissions from human skin. The SMARM has a covert operations variant, the C-SMARM. The C-SMARM's main casing is made out of C-431 instead of a more conventional casing material, and all non-C-431 materials are positioned within the explosive filling so that they will be destroyed utterly when the weapon detonates. The C-SMARM is particularly notable for its agility; it can execute a 90 degree turn at Mach 6.6 in less than one meter's travel length in order to strike targets out of the way. Spud The 011-R Bearlbrus. Known as the 'Spud' missile in Solarian designation. It is an extremely large and extremely common thermonuclear missile tracing its origins to pre-Byzonic times, during the early centuries of the Bragulan space age. The atomic rockets used in the colonization of the Bragulan system, and the atomic missiles later launched from Bragule to kill those colonists, are considered ancestors of the Spud as they share roughly the same thermonuclear propulsion system. The modern Spud is fueled by liquid uranium and liquid plutonium injected into a bragsteel internal atomic combustion chamber, a crude propulsion method that gives the missile an explosive amount of energy and makes it surprisingly fast even in an age of exotic power sources and space drives. Its large size also makes it a large target for point-defense, but Bragulan engineers have made the missile extremely resilient to defensive fire by armoring the Spud's nosecone with the very same bragsteel in its combustion chambers. Some Spuds actually mount point-defenses of their own, in the form of anti-fighter missile batteries and K-bolter CIWS. Thanks to its semi-decent survivability, a sufficiently upgraded Spud can deliver its warheads to even targets with modern defenses. The standard tactic is to launch them'' en masse'', letting the sheer numbers overwhelm the defenders in a flurry of oversized radiation-spewing missiles, multiple independent revengeance vehicles and penetration aids. The fact that a single Spud is as large as a building and has several tons worth of fissible material inside it divided amongst dozens of MIRVs means that even if only a few Spuds make it through the defenses, the ensuing damage will still be quite severe. In the case of Spuds armed with vegemite-enhanced nucleonics, the megatonnage they carry make them very formidable anti-capital weapons. The Spud has been in production for centuries, which means that Bragule has an almost limitless stockpile of the ancient missiles to use however the Imperator sees fit. Most missiles are either used as is by the Bragulan militaries or exported to whoever is in the market for strategic nuclear weapons. Some of the Spuds are modernized progressively for use by frontline Bragulan units, and are far more capable than the obsolete variants. Due to their size, Spuds can only be launch by larger platforms, such as planetary launchers and large warships. Category:Space Navy Category:Ground Forces